


Solem et Aeternum

by Plegethorn



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Ambiguous-Gender WoL, Angst, Big bitch mood, Breakdown of Reality, Emet-Selch as a god, F/F, F/M, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Gen, Heartbreak, Lots of Angst, More trash rat, No Smut, Slow Dancing, Wol as a god, depressed Wol, no beta we die like men, sfw, ugly crying, why did I write this, you can never have enough trash rat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 18:57:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20376499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plegethorn/pseuds/Plegethorn
Summary: At the beginning, at the end of all things is Emet-Selch and the inbeween is the Warrior of Light, though shattered and tired, they continue to fight.





	Solem et Aeternum

**Author's Note:**

> Have fun with this fic guys, it’s a feels one, and thanks to all of you for being such great arseholes.
> 
> Come give me hate on Tumblr at phlegethornspace.

The day had started like any other, the sky now restored to its resplendent beauty, and the heat of the mid-day sun rested snuggly on the air as it continued its eminent dance across the celestial firmament.

At first, you didn't think of the pain that lingered in the fabric woven core of your soul, nor did your thoughts wander close to it, for such a thing was common in the days after Ardbert had aided and provided much-needed succour to your frayed and tattered being.

During the days that followed, you didn't have time to linger overly so on the feelings that, at night when all was silent and you were left to your own space, it shamed you to admit that the loneliness hit you most. With no companion to pick you from your stupor, you wept unabashed, and howled into your pillow, the tears making the fabric, just as the tracks on your face threatened to leave scars in their wake.

After hours of the pain coursing through your heart and mind, you would eventually sleep, too exhausted to continue, though even the rest was not fulfilling and deep as you would have wished.

It was on one such evening when your mind was quivering and your eyes too tired from staring at the walls of your room in the Pendants, and you had finally, _finally_ given in to the lull of sleep and calmness that for but a brief moment, the pain eased.

It was in that quiet half-wakefulness that he came to you, the colours of your mind muted and half-broken, even as he stepped from the dimness into your room, a grin on his lips the same shade as the suit he wore. His steps light and a bounce on his heels as he strolled over to the bed and offered a half-bow to you, precisely as you yourself pulled the sheets higher to cover your body, a loud screech of surprise pulling itself from deep within your throat.

Glancing back to you as you screeded with hooded eyes, the monster of a man shot you a smirk ladened with honeyed words and muted tones. “Darling,” he muttered, the words of the Devil’s wine, “If you insist on making such noises, I will leave you be,” And you quickly shook your head, words of begging “No-pleasedon’t” halting as he continued “I don’t appreciate my eardrums bleeding, dear.”

Shuffling yourself into a seating position in the bed, his eyes following your movements as though they were some form of an ancient rite that you had yet to rediscover, you offered him a watery smile, the pain in your chest increasing as you stared at him, your eyes drinking in his every angle and curve. He raised an eyebrow to your stare, but you simply shook your head, and he nodded, willing to let it pass this once.

After an eternity of staring at him, he gave a humourless chuckle, more akin to the waves meeting the shore than a laugh. “Are you planning on spending the whole evening in bed, Hero?” And you shot him a look of pure poison as you reached out to him, offering the sweetest antidote with your bare palms, as a perfect sigh, leaves on the wind, leaves your lips as he gave you his arm to assist you in standing.

As your feet graced the floor with their touch, he raised his spare hand into the air and clicked, the Pendants and your night clothes vanishing in a whirl of colour and smoke, and though you tried to look down at yourself, the fabric, cut and shape of the cloth offered only mist to your questioning sights. Returning your eyes to the chamber around you and him, a gasp left your lungs, as the lamps on the vaulted ceiling set fire to your breath before it left you.

As your attention refocused on the demon of a being, he let your hand drop and offered you yet another bow, his hand stretching out to you, an offering to a forgotten god, “Shall we dance, Hero?” and you gave his solemn offering a silent nod, your lips splitting into a beam of delight, with all the power and light of a Quasar, taking his upturned hand with your own, you returned his bow, with a step closer as the choir of string instruments began to sing in harmony with your joined steps.

Together, you danced, tracing the constellations and heavenly bodies with your feet, hearts beating in time with the others, breaths merging with the clouds following you as you called down meteors with your entwined actualities. As you continued to chase the eternities held in each other's gaze, a hazy solitude fell over your conjoined essence, and you lost yourself to it, entrusting all that you had to his hands as his arms tugged you closer to him, feeling your lungs drawing his creations into them.

You gave yourself freely, entrusting yourself to his safekeeping as your eyes drifted closed once more, and you felt the eddies of the winds buffeting your skin as you moved in time with his own will, your feet never quite treading on his, whether by his strand of magic or by mere miracle, you couldn’t quite tell, not that you complained. There was a blissful mood that filled the air as he twisted and guided you through the grand hall in time with the gentle trill of the tune radiating from the strings.

As yet another sigh tumbled from your lips, the devil given form chuckled and pulled you closer, your fronts merging into one as you continued to say in time with the music. Looking to his face again, you moved one of your hands from his back to his face, tracing the shape of it and held your breath, almost if you breathed too heavily, he would vanish once more.

"I missed you." The words tumbled out of your mouth, a waterfall meeting a volcano, and you paused, taking time to examine him once more, committing to memory his every line and form, reluctant to lose him once more, and he tsk'ed even as he moved you both into a small twirl on the floor.

"Mourning for me, Hero?" He whispered, his voice entering your body even as you nodded your head. "Whatever for? I'm the villain of your story, my dear." and you felt a strangle of pain hit you so unexpectedly that you let out a loud sob as the storm in your eyes started to make itself known to both of you, and he shook his head and began to softly hum in time with the divine choir of strings that continued to play, oblivious to the pain you felt in every fibre of your body.

His gentle humming wove a tapestry of sorrow into your veins, the blues and yellows hues feeble and frail though the threads he created aided in patching some of the heartaches, and just as quickly as the storm had arrived, it was over though you continued to shake, his arms encircling your frame as though shielding you from the rest of eternity and the gaze of the innumerable deities in the heavens hiding in it.

You took a deep breath, pressing your face into the collar of the silken shirt of his suit, letting the chill support you in your time of need, just as his hands rubbed your back and his arms retained your frame as easily as you slaughtered primals in your wake. Continuing to hum and sway you both, he looked to you, a soft grin rising to his grace covered lips and gave a soft chuckle, causing you to look up at him once more.

“Much better, darling.” He whispered, the tails of meteors running in the lines that his dialectics cut into the air, and you watched them with a sense of detachment. It wasn't you that he was swaying with, it was the other Warrior of Light, surely, because, in this dreamscape of a world, you and he were gods, the universe creating beneath each step and movement you took along the marble floorings. He gave you another candied smile, “Your eyes hold the secret of creations in them, dear.” And you clung to every word he fed you as though it were your last meal, each snippet a fiendish delight that you savoured.

_If this is heaven,_ you thought to yourself, watching his face, _Please don’t let it end._ You must have said the words out loud for he gave you a warm, contented grin. “Here, in this space, we are the divine,” he murmured, answering your unsaid questions, as he continued to guide your steps, tracing the galaxies with his and your feet. “In this hall, we are the rulers of the cosmos themselves, dear.” and you gave a sigh of contentment, was there anything as great as dancing alongside the one that you loved while the gods smiled on you?

You knew of course, that the dream would not last, and the pain upon waking would be all the worse for it, but right now, you didn’t care. The only things that mattered at that moment were himself, yourself, the great hall and the music you danced to.

The worlds continued to shimmer as you drifted away the evening in his arms, witnessing the birth of black holes and the destructions of universes in his sights and you were content to let it happen, just for that one chance to be with him - even if it was just a dream - you reminded yourself, focusing on his breathing.

Grinning down at you, he, this sublime creature so faithful to you, pulled you closer and you stumbled slightly, your dream-self not quite keeping time with this new step and position. "Are you finally happy, Hero?" He breathed, stepping closer, his breath barely grazing your hair, and you nodded, turning your face so that the side of your head now rested on his chest-and if you strained your hearing over the music-You swore he was purring, and your face split like a neutron star to a clean space, as lifeblood rushed to colour your cheeks with cerise.

"Good. This world of ours may not need a hero, but yours still need you, dear." A fresh swell of shame threatened to fill you as he preached into your soul as the ocean would preach to the birds flying above it to pluck succulent fish from its glimmering surface. “If I could, my darling, I would take the world that scorns us both and offer it to you, but such things are not for our hands. I fear it would sully yours.” He continued, moving to hold your hand as he spun you around him like a planet orbiting its creator star.

“Hades-” You began and just as you started speaking, wanting to reveal your innermost secrets to him, the white, splendid world darkened and he held your hand into the light as he began to fade. _“No!” _ you screamed, your soul splitting into particles once more, _“Don’t leave me again!”_

** _“Remember...Remember us. Remember that we once lived.”_ **

And you awakened to a lonely and dull world with a shriek, the sheets of your bed bunched and shrew under you, the tears on your face making themselves home on your skin and the pain in your heart destroying your every being into shards again.

What was once whole can be unmade.

Damn him and his _so-called_ god.


End file.
